June 16, 2023

Chicken leg tray bake

I love when I stumble on something on the sale rack at my local grocery that I have never used to cook with. I am a huge fan of capers, regularly going for the picatta if I am splurging on a pasta meal. However, when I saw jarred caperberries, such as these from DeLallo marked down at 50% off, I simply had to buy and try! I immediately started a search for recipes that could use this unusual ingredient and found a chicken leg tray bake that would fit the bill.

Not only did this recipe have a cut of chicken that my husband loves and is incredibly inexpensive (chicken legs), it also is a tray bake, which is one of my absolute favorite types of easy, weeknight meals. A one pan wonder, with the addition of bread, which adds a heartiness to the meal, but also the glorious crunch when the bread takes on the fat from the chicken while roasting in the oven.

I am a lover of the lemon. If you give me a recipe that roasts, toasts, warms or broils a lemon, I am all about it!! The original recipe that I found is called Chicken Roasted on Bread with Caperberries and Charred Lemons, from Food and Wine. The ingredients are simple and include my ever loved lemon, as well as these mystical caperberries! I have made this recipe a couple times now and have added my own spin and can provide some advice. I also make this for 2, which is roughly (I went heavy on the bread) half of the original recipe, but you can double to make 4 servings. My adusted ingredients and instructions below:

Ingredients

2 large whole chicken legs

2 medium red onions – slice off the top just enough to allow the onions to sit flat. Leave root end intact, but peel outer layer off and discard. Sit onions up and cut into 4 quadrants, just leaving a about a quarter to a half inch left at bottom, so it appears as an onion flower. See pic below as example of cooked red onion:

1/4 – 1/2 pound of crusty bread. Original recipe calls for sourdough, but a day old French baguette or Ciabatta could do the trick. Rip the bread into 1 inch square pieces (roughly). Do not go too small on these. You want them to crisp on the outside, but leave a little bit of moisture in.

1/2 cup of jarred caperberries, drained. If you are buying this item to simply try it, do not be tempted to add all of them to use up the jar. It will cause the chicken dish to be too briney in the end. Put aside the others and use on a charcuterie board for your next hosted gatheting. If anything, these caperberries present themselves well. Any tray is sexier with them on it!

2 lemons, cleaned and halved

3 Tbsp. cup of grapeseed oil – stick with me on this one. If you are not buying this amazing oil, go out and get it. EVOO is only made for low temp cooking. We are going to blast the fire in this recipe, so go with the tried and true grapeseed. If you do not have this on hand, vegetable or canola will do!

8 garlic cloves, in the skin, but smashed a bit to let out flavor

Salt, Pepper, and if desired, a dash or 2 of rosemary or thyme

Instruction

This is where the simplicity comes in. Everything goes into one tray! Limiting the mess is always a benefit!

As well, I learned that this can make a heck of a mess on your baking tray, so a layer of parchment will be your savior. Aluminum foil, if you do not have parchment

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the caperberries, bread, onions, garlic and lemons in a large bowl with roughly a tsp. of salt and pepper and other spices you may want to add. Especially ensure that the bread is fully coated. If you need a bit more oil, drizzle more on and mix it all up.

Put mixture on baking tray and arrange the chicken legs on top. Brush legs with a bit more oil, season generously with salt and pepper

Roast until the chicken leg is registering 160 degrees at the thickest part of the thigh. Start checking temp at about 40 mins, but expect anywhere between 40-60 mins, depending on your oven. You will have a crispy skin on the chicken, tender, juicy meat, sweet red onions, crunchy bread nuggets, briney caperberries and lemons that, when squeezed over top, are like candy on the dish!! Enjoy!

If you like this recipe, you may also like my recipe for Rotisserie Chicken!

Bun Cha – Grilled Vietnamese pork patties

This is a recipe that I saw prepared some years ago on America’s Test Kitchen. This one is right up my alley because it is bold in flavor and is not just about the protein component, ground pork. It also has an amazing sauce, noodles and loads of greens.

What makes Bun Cha extra special? The sauce is pure flavor, the pork patties are juicy due to the use of a small amount of baking soda used, and the addition of mint as a core green element adds an unexpected, but exciting twist to the dish.

I followed the core America’s Test Kitchen recipe, making a few tweaks that I will include in the below Bun Cha recipe!

Bun Cha – Grilled Vietnamese pork patties

Recipe by kristenCourse: Food, Kristen Cooks

Servings

servings

Cooking time

minutes

Calories

410

kcal

Ingredients

Pork Patties
1 lb. ground pork
1 large shallot, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. fish sauce, such as A Taste of Thai
2 Tsp. sugar
1/2 Tsp. baking soda
1 Tsp. ground pepper
Noodles and Salad
8 oz. of rice noodles. I selected the wider, linguini style, but vermicelli would be amazing as well.
2/3 of an English cucumber, peeled, cut in half, with seeds taken out. Slice into half moons, a little under 1/2 inch thick
1 cup of fresh, washed cilantro, end of stems cut, but balance included
3/4 cup fresh mint, very lightly chopped, leaving in large chunks
Lettuce of your choice. Typical recipe calls to chop Boston Bibb lettuce, but I love leaving the Boston lettuce in full leaves to use for wrapping, if making smaller pork patties
Sauce
3 Tbsp. sugar
1-2 garlic cloves, your choice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup hot water
4-5 Tbsp. fish sauce. Start with 4, taste and adjust
1 Thai or serrano chili, stem removed and minced

Directions

Cook rice noodles per package instructions. Rinse and lay out on tray to pat them dry. Set aside
Assemble cilantro, mint, lettuce and cucumber on serving tray and refrigerate until other ingredients are ready
Build the sauce – if you have a mortar and pestle, mash 1 Tbsp. of the sugar, chili, and garlic into a fine paste. Mix with the hot water in a bowl, add the remaining sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the fish sauce and lime, whisk up and set aside. Alternatively, if you do not have a mortar and pestle, add all ingredients into a small food processor and chop until chili is fine and all is fully combined
For the pork patties – combine the pork, shallot, fish sauce, sugar, baking soda, and pepper in a bowl. The recipe calls for dividing the meat mixture into 12 patties. I divide into 6, to make the grilling easier, but either way works just fine. It is a matter of preference
Grill patties as you would a typical burger on your charcoal or gas grill. For smaller patties, higher heat and quick 3-4 mins per side will do it. If dividing into 6 larger burgers, lower the heat slightly and extend cooking time to get an inner temp of 155-160 F. There should be a nice char on the outside with a deliciously juicy inside!
Here is where there is some ability to tailor to taste. Typically, the patties are put into the bowl of sauce and tossed to coat before serving. If some like it real zesty at your table and others do not, serve the sauce on the side, allowing each diner to decide the amount of sauce for their noodles, greens and pork patty
Serve patties on tray with veg. and bowl up the noodles and sauce so individual plates can be tailored to taste
ENJOY!

Notes

This is a perfect recipe for mixing things up. Vary your noodles and veg, perhaps adding in some crunchy elements, such as carrot or radish. Have fun with it!